His birth father was smart but not a good father. He wandered off. His mother, was had 4 children before she was 20, left the 3 boys and one girl with her father (Wilson) in Atchison, Kansas, and went looking for him. Her father worked hard and could not supervise the children well, and when he tried to adopt them, he was not allowed because he was a 7th Day Adventist and did not work 6 days a week. The children were running the streets so they were put in the county home and put up for adoption. The baby was adopted by a family in St. Joseph, MO, but was brought back. Two others were adopted by a family named Merwin in Eldorado KS, who then took the child who was returned. Charles was not adopted because of his age. Charles was adopted at 2 by the Carrolls who had gone to pick up a two-year old girl. A girl was not available so they took Charles. Children could be returned within the year, but when the home wrote and said they could bring him back and take a girl who was now available, they did not want to give him up. He did not see his siblings again until he was 13.

His natural father was Carl Jesse Craft (son of Jesse Maurice Craft and Anna R. Richards) who was born Dec 19, 1878 in Atchison, Kansas, and married in Atchison on Jun 27 1903 to Margarite Mae Wilson, daughter of John Wilson. They had 4 children. The other three, Francis, Dorothy and Lawrence were adopted by the Samuel and Emma Merwin family. Charles was a farmer and a Catholic.